11:00 a.m. Worship in the Sanctuary and Online

Every Sunday, join us for worship in the sanctuary and online at 11:00 a.m.

FPC Website: https://fpccle.org/online-worship/
FPC YouTube: https://youtube.com/@fpccle

Sunday, February 15th Music

Music Notes: Today kicks off a series of events marking the 30th anniversary of the installation of the magnificent Schantz Pipe Organ (1996-2026). John Cook’s (1918-1984) “Fanfare”, published in 1952, was his only organ piece to achieve popular success. Cook was disgruntled at the claim he had composed it in one afternoon while he had spent significant time on his other organ compositions. Inspired by Psalm 81, the first theme is stated on the solo trumpet. The second theme is stated 13 measures later with trumpet fanfares interspersed throughout. The middle section in a minor uses the lighter sounds of the organ and is a dialogue between the front and back organs. The coda consists of a dialogue between rhythmic and melodic material from both sections ending festively with the full organ.

Markus Williams (1972-2018) was a composer, arranger, music director, vocalist, and educator. He was the creator and founding Artistic Director of The Human Symphony Foundation. Adolphus Hailstork (b 1941) is an American composer and educator of African American, Native American, and European ancestry.  Educated at the Manhattan School of Music, he was Professor of Music at Youngstown State University from 1971-1976. “Oh, Freedom” became affiliated with civil rights activism when it was used at protests of the 1906 Atlanta race massacre and later during the Civil Rights Movement.

Introducing our Spirituals Practice 

The Spirituals Project

Today Fairmount is launching a social justice initiative of reparations to our enslaved siblings. Historically, Negro Spirituals were orally passed through the generations. Since that time countless composers/arrangers have taken these pieces to create their own arrangements which have been sold to churches, schools, and community organizations. These arrangers receive royalties from every copy of music sold. Since there were no copyrights on these original spirituals, the arrangers collect the royalties in full.

The Spirituals Project aims to increase awareness about this music that is an important part of our American heritage. We will collect funds each quarter as a reparation, and will share those funds to local organizations supporting black musicians.

For the first quarter (January-March), funds collected will go to the A. Grace Lee Mims Fund held within the Cleveland Foundation which supports graduate students pursuing a degree in voice with a concentration on preserving the Negro Spiritual. A. Grace Lee Mims served as soprano soloist at Fairmount for twenty years and hosted the program “Black Arts” for forty-three years on WCLV. Frederick Taylor, Music Director at Shiloh Baptist, was one of A. Grace Mims’ voice students, and the current section leader at Shiloh, Matthew Jones, was a scholarship recipient in 2021.

If you are interested in participating in this project, you may donate online. Or, you can make a check payable to Fairmount Presbyterian Church. Be sure to include Spiritual Project in the memo. You can also donate through your online Realm account by selecting the fund, Spirituals Project.A display in the hallway outside the sanctuary will contain information about each quarter as to how many spirituals have been sung/played, the selected organization, and the amount of money raised.